Embracing Joy and Gratitude in Community

"You are going to be a little bit more active participants. So, you guys stand there. I've been a little bit sick. I don't want a hands-on because no kid wants to get sick at Christmas. Agreed? And so, what we're going to do, I'm going to go through what we normally do. Let me explain it to you. Number one, we should always give thanks to the Lord for every good gift. But kids are miraculous. Agreed? It's miraculous in every way, shape and form. Throughout the Bible, there is story after story of magnifying the Lord, giving thanks to the Lord for the gift of a child. It's huge." [00:00:21] (45 seconds)


"And what we do here today doesn't make little Caroline, by the way, doesn't make Caroline all of a sudden, she's a follower of Jesus. No. What it does is, number one, we give thanks to the Lord for the gift of Caroline's life. Number two, we pray earnestly for Raul and Heather because parenting is a team sport and it's unpredictable. And so, we know that we are part of a family. There is a family unit here, but we are part of a family. And so, what we do is we simply say, hey, this is our thanks to God and our pathway of intention. And so, what we do is we simply say, hey, this is our thanks to God and our pathway of intention for this whole family's life, especially for Caroline." [00:01:15] (46 seconds)


"Rejoice in the Lord when you feel like it. And that's enough. No, it doesn't say that. It says rejoice in the Lord always. And just in case you didn't hear me, I'll say it again. Rejoice. What's with the pressure on here? What's with this emphasis? Like, why rejoice in the Lord always? There is something in this that we dismiss too quickly, which we'll cover today. Don't forget Luke 2, verse 10. This image we've got for this whole series. The angel appears to the shepherds and says, the angel said to them, do not be afraid. I bring you good news. That's the word for the gospel. The gospel is good news. That will cause great joy. Joy for all the people. So I'm going to bring you good news. Here's the good news. This will result in great joy. Ah, so the result of rejoicing is the receiving of this good news. Makes sense. Can I just say this? I'm pretty confident right now that some of you in this room need a good dose of rejoicing." [00:12:58] (75 seconds)


"The reviving of my soul, the restoring of my strength, the renewing of my heart. It actually enables me to unlock again. Again, the receptive ability to have hope and have peace because I've just opened up because rejoicing is giving out more than it is taking in. Now, we've been doing this new version of Joy to the World this year here at Grace, which I think is awesome. And there are lines in it. It says, but the joy of the Lord is my strength. Is it? Is it, though? Oh yeah, we've been singing it for a few weeks and I didn't really know. What is that joy of the Lord being my strength? It quite clearly isn't, well, I've memorized 15 more chapters of the Bible. I've got more joy. I'm not saying you shouldn't do that, but it's a bit more. What is that? Joy of the Lord. Joy of the Lord being my strength. So let me remind you where that originally is in the scriptures and how it's not as deep as you think. It's something very beautiful. And as humans, we can do this if we'll apply it. So originally it appeared in the book of Nehemiah." [00:16:22] (92 seconds)


"Nehemiah who's come back to rebuild the walls all of that going on and there's this beautiful moment where they've got the word of God again and the priest comes out Ezra and gathers all the people together and they want to celebrate God's faithfulness that his word is back to them his promise everything's incredible there's hope alive again they all gather Ezra opens the book and all the people are like wow he didn't even preach and they were already cheering because they knew the word of God was available to them God the king of the universe could now speak to them again remember this is old testament and in the midst of all that incredible gathering Nehemiah has these words chapter 8 of Nehemiah verse 10 Nehemiah said to all these people now go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks amen everybody this is interesting this world worship time this hearing the word of God this encouraging one another this new day is all before them and he says no we've got to overflow with that so go ahead and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks and send some to those who have nothing prepared spread it here's the difference between hope peace and joy the joy one stands out in this way joy is at it It's best when it is communally multiple people encountered at the same time." [00:17:54] (91 seconds)


"Joy in the Holy Spirit. The source of joy is the Holy Spirit in your life. And it might not always look like, Woohoo! But just like his peace, which was rich and affectionate, he's joy, the source of it is the Holy Spirit in your life. That's why when we rejoice, it strengthens us. Because we are asking the Holy Spirit. We are literally, there's an activation of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He empowers us in our challenges. Now I'm aware of this, that some of you this year, this Christmas is hard, real hard. Maybe you're going through a hardship, a hard situation. Some loss, some hope that you did have, that doesn't seem to have come through. Physically, mentally, relationally, emotionally. That's there. And you're thinking joy, there's nah. Nah, not getting no joy this year. Oh, He is there. You can lean in because it's the joy of the Lord that will be your strength. You need the joy of the Lord more than maybe when life is just awesome. You need that unexplainable joy in difficulty." [00:25:05] (91 seconds)


"God dwells in the midst of a praising people. There is a celebration factor to that that is renewing. And strengthening. It is at best when it is with others. Good news. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord. You're going to find him wrapped in cloths and lying in an animal's feeding trough. Joy. Joy. So, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Joy to the world. I thought about this and I thought, I'm going to do it. What can I do that's going to help all of us take out of all these themes, this joy one that will remind us, how can I enrich that a little bit? And so I thought, joy to the world. We've been singing it. We will be singing it. Joy to the world." [00:27:32] (61 seconds)


"Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for us. The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Let earth receive her king. Joy to the world. Do you hear it? He's just simplifying it in a poetic way. Verse four. I'm just going to say it again because it's Christmas time and you need to hear it even if it's not Christmas time. I do struggle with some people's posture in worship, being like this. Joy to the world. The Lord has come. Yes, my personality is liar." [00:37:46] (72 seconds)


"Shout for joy. Isn't this something incredible when there's a roar of celebration? Again, sadly, we've got more reference points to sports games than we have worship gatherings. Where grown men will lose their inhibitions. And I'm both. I'm good with losing inhibitions in worship and if my team wins. But I'm just saying there is something in us. And when we collectively do it and you feed it, why is it that certain environments will go, oh, but when I'm with God's people and we sing, it's because the Lord inhabits the praises of his people. You've got the effect. Of people around you. Then it goes to verse seven. And here's your fields and floods and rocks, hills and plains." [00:40:03] (57 seconds)